D&AD Festival 2019: Our Picks
Five=minute read
2019’s eagerly awaited D&AD Festival kicked off on 21st May, with East London’s Truman Brewery welcoming the event back again for another year. This time, the three-day-long frenzy of all things creative was built around the theme; ‘Shaping the future.’
The D&AD Festival is the culmination of weeks of judging; which saw industry talent pouring over submissions from all over the World, with an exhibition of the cream of the crop. 4000 attendees squeezed themselves in amongst 2000+ exhibits, showcasing art, design, fashion, advertising, film, and every in between.
There was spin-the-bottle, panels, speakers, awesome dairy-free ice cream, DIY screenprinting, typeface making workshops, and plenty of other interactive things to get involved with during your visit.
Over 100 speakers spoke, and over 250+ industry-leading judges judged.
And, it’s only a hop, skip and a jump from our East London studio! Feeling overwhelmed? Didn’t make it? Worry not! Lottie and Gabriella checked it out and have rounded up their favourite talk, exhibits, and bits of the festival, for your pleasure.
Lou Stoppard in Conversation with Sarah Andelman
Sarah Andelman (Colette, Just an Idea) talked us through all things collaboration, the future of the concept store, and her own experience working within both these spaces. She explained how there is space for collaboration wherever there is a genuine spark between two things; be those brands, ideas, people, or places.
A word of caution, however, swiftly followed.
“Collaboration doesn’t mean it will work or be successful…it needs authenticity. Needs to be unexpected to be excited ”
Her main advice? Just do it. Just experiment. Everything is possible.
Typography Workshop with Alexandra Lunn
Alexandra Lunn, CEO of Alexandra Lunn Studio, enticed us into her typography workshop with the promise of a free orange each. We came for the oranges and stayed for the typography. We didn’t regret it!
Alexandra took us through the process of making a typeface from start to finish with the help of card, scissors, a bit of determination and the font-editing programme Glyph.
The Health Purse (Sehat Ka Batua) from Mahindra Rise
We’re obsessed.
This simple but powerful initiative to raise awareness of breast cancer and its symptoms blew us away. This campaign focuses on reaching those in media-dark areas, places that are otherwise overlooked. People living in these areas still need accurate, accessible healthcare resources. They were distributed as part of a wider healthcare drive across villages in Maharashtra, India, and will be scaled up to reach more people across wider areas.
Fantastic, and humbling work. The embodiment of art and design that has a real impact on people day-to-day and certainly something shaping the future.
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